El Nuevo Herald/Miami Herald reports on the most-recent Sunday of repression in Cuba:
Cuban security forces beat up opposition activist Antonio G. Rodiles and detained nearly 100 other dissidents on Sunday, just a few days before the scheduled opening of U.S. and Cuban embassies in Havana and Washington.
Meanwhile, the archdiocese of Havana denied Monday that Cardinal Jaime Ortega used harsh words, such as “worms,” to criticize the Miami news media during a confrontation with dissidents at a July 4 reception at the home of the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba.
Former political prisoners Egberto Escobedo and José Díaz Silva claim that they and other activists approached Ortega at a reception at the home of the head of the U.S. Interests Section to hand him a list of political prisoners, in anticipation of a possible pardon during Pope Francis' upcoming visit. Ortega declared last month that there are no political prisoners in Cuba.
Escobedo and Diaz have alleged in news reports that Ortega refused to accept the list, saying it contained information from “the worm media” or the “counterrevolutionary media” in South Florida. “Worm” is a derogatory Cuban government term for anti-Castro exiles.
In the Sunday incident, Rodiles, well known for his work on human rights and leader of civic projects, such as Estado de SATS and the Forum for Rights and Freedoms, suffered a broken nose from a punch to the face and underwent surgery at the Calixto García Hospital in Havana.
Speaking with difficulty by phone, Rodiles said he was punched on the nose by a State Security agent in a vehicle after he had been arrested and handcuffed but had continued to shout “Long Live Freedom” and “Long Live Human Rights.” He also had been punched earlier by agents who refused to identify themselves, he added.
The agents were trying to block Rodiles from participating in the protest march that members of the dissident Ladies in White stage after mass every Sunday in front of the Santa Rita church in the Miramar neighborhood to request the release of all political prisoners.
And the U.S. government response? We don't like it, but it won't affect normalization of relations.
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